Amazon eCommerce Strategy: Guide to Boosting Online Sales

Why You Should Be Selling on Amazon

Access a huge audience

Business on Amazon is booming. Amazon marketplace has billions of visits every month. It goes without saying, selling on Amazon is a massive opportunity to increase the visibility of your products.

Amazon is trusted

Amazon is often the first port of call for consumers. 75% of consumers say they check prices and product reviews on Amazon before buying on other sites. This is because Amazon is a credible source of product information due to their high standards.

So, by selling on Amazon, your brand will be associating with the best of the best.

Leverage Amazon Prime

Amazon Prime is a monthly subscription service. By subscribing, users receive shipping perks and access to Amazon’s streaming service. Amazon boasts a huge 200 million Prime subscribers.

Leverage Prime as a seller by applying to Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP). There are requirements to qualify for the program, but by offering your products as Prime listings, they’ll be discovered more. This is because Amazon promotes Prime listings to their network of Prime members.

Another bonus is SFP orders display ‘FREE Prime Delivery’ messaging on their product pages. With 79% of Amazon Prime members stating free shipping as the most important Prime perk, leveraging Prime drives shoppers to your product. It will also encourage repeat purchases, too.

Amazon’s ‘Today’s Deals’ is one of Amazon’s most visited pages. It features a selection of discounted products, otherwise known as ‘Lightning Deals’. With SFP, you’re able to set up your own Lightning Deals. It’s an easy way to increase sales, boost brand awareness, and reduce excess inventory!

Access Amazon’s fulfilment network

Fulfilment By Amazon (FBA) breaks down borders and provides access to millions of customers.  This is because FBA lets you store inventory in local warehouses, giving you access to new marketplaces.

Also, Amazon’s fulfilment services take care of packaging and delivery, freeing up time to run your business. It’s a convenient, cost-friendly solution to nail your Amazon growth strategy. Creating an Amazon global strategy has never been easier because FBA does the bulk of the work.

If you’re looking to expand through FBA, Amazon Global Selling provides some key resources.

Access Amazon’s holiday traffic

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the Christmas period is massive for Amazon. So, sell on Amazon to take advantage of their massive holiday traffic.

But, the key date to circle on your eCommerce is Prime Day. Amazon Prime is a big enough deal that Jeff Bezos invented its own special day!

Taking place on July 12 & 13th, spending on Prime Day is now in the tens of billions. Prime Day is Amazon’s way of giving online sellers another chance to maximize their revenue.

Embrace D2C

Amazon is great for manufacturers and distributors looking to set up an online store. Becoming an Amazon vendor to shift excess stock is quick and easy. You’ll have a new audience away from the traditional supply chain. Amazon expansion is easier than ever for B2B businesses looking to go omnichannel.

Amazon Terminology Explained

What’s an ASIN number?

All products receive a unique ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number) when it’s listed.

Like how a Social Security Number keeps track of a person’s identity and financial information, an ASIN keeps track of a product’s information. Such as its description, availability, and price.

The easiest way to see a product on Amazon is with the ASIN number. For example, on your browser’s search box, type: ‘www.amazon.com/dp/”Product’s ASIN”’. Your browser will take you to the product page!

What’s an Amazon Seller and Amazon Vendor?

It’s important to understand the distinction so you know the best fit for your business. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution.

Simply, Amazon Sellers are third-party partners. On the other hand, vendors are first-party partners.

Vendors have access to Vendor Central. Here, they function as a wholesaler. They sell products directly to Amazon, which Amazon then sells to customers.

Amazon Sellers operate D2C under their own business name. Sellers manage their own inventory, orders, and customer service. They’re responsible for setting their own retail prices.

What’s the difference between Fulfilled by Amazon and Fulfilled by Merchant?

Both Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) and Fulfilment by Merchant (FBM) concern operations around fulfilment, shipping, and customer support. However, there are key differences.

With FBA, sellers send products to Amazon’s warehouses. Here, Amazon stores them and ships them D2C. Amazon is also responsible for customer support.

FBA works well for businesses where the inventory ticks over quickly and they don’t have the bandwidth to handle customer service and shipping. Also, it’s important to note only FBA products are eligible to appear as Amazon Prime listings.

Conversely, FBM manage storage and shipping themselves. You should use this method if you want more control and flexibility over your customers and already have logistics in place.

Is Amazon.co.uk the same as Amazon.com?

Short answer, no.

Fundamentally, Amazon is actually a variety of different marketplaces, separated by geography. So, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com are completely different marketplaces. You need to create separate seller accounts for each.

Amazon also has Australian, Japanese, and Middle Eastern operations, too!

Walkthrough: Listing Your First Amazon Product

If the product you want to sell is already listed on Amazon, then listing an identical product is simple. Search by a unique identifier (eg. UPC, EAN, ISBN, or ASIN) and Amazon will scrape the product information you require from an existing listing. You’ll then be taken to product enrichment.

But, if your product isn’t already on Amazon, you have to fill in the required sections with key product attributes.

The following data fields are the key building blocks of your listing. Some are more self-explanatory than others:

Product Identity

This section includes information about the product to help customers identify and differentiate it from similar products.

• Item name: This functions as your product title. It is one of the first things a customer sees when searching for your product, along with an image, reviews, and price.
• External product ID: EAN, GTIN, UPC.
• Brand name: If your product has a brand name Amazon will take you through the brand registry process.
• Does your product have variations?: Variation listings are brilliant time-savers. For example, if you’re selling T-Shirts in different colours, variation listings save you from creating separate listings for each variation. Amazon remembers your answer and lets you set these up later.

Top tip: Amazon takes product information seriously. So, stick to the product information supplied by the product manufacturer. This way, you’ll be confident your product matches the correct category. You’ll find this information in product data sheets and technical drawings provided by the manufacturer.

Vital Info

It’s important to ensure all the information in this section is accurate and up-to-date. This is because Amazon requires safety, technical, and sizing information for shipping.

• Product Manufacturer
• Each Unit Count: This refers to the number of individual units of a product included in a single package or shipment.
• Country/Region of Origin
• Is the item heat sensitive?
• Form Factor: This refers to the physical size of the product. Providing the form factor is important so customers get an idea of the size of the product.
• Does it contain liquid contents?

Offer

The ‘Offer’ field refers to the information sellers provide customers to make an informed purchase. This includes:

• Offering condition type: Is the product new, used, or refurbished?
• Price
• SKU: If you leave this blank Amazon will randomly assign you an SKU.
• Fulfilment channel: Choose between Fulfilled by merchant (FBM) or Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA). Remember, with FBA, Amazon help out. On the other hand, FBM is the do-it-yourself option.

That’s a breakdown of the basics. Next, we’ll look at how optimizing your listings will catch the eyes of shoppers.

Essential Selling Strategies for Amazon

Improve Product Visibility with Optimized Product Data

Amazon has an inventory of 12 million+ products. If you include all the items listed by marketplace sellers, this number snowballs to a cool 350 million. So, how do you get your products to stand out on this key sales channel?

Optimizing product information for search engines is the place to start. As with Google, Amazon’s A9 algorithm looks at multiple factors when ranking your products.

So, start by doing keyword research to optimize your Amazon listings. A strong Amazon marketing strategy involves researching relevant phrases shoppers are looking for in search engines. Use a keyword tool to inform you which search terms you should be targeting. Keyword research tools include Google Keyword Planner, Semrush Keyword Magic Tool, Ubersuggest, or Moz Keyword Explorer.

Because keywords help consumers discover your products, ensure product titles and descriptions are keyword-rich and accurately reflect the product’s features and benefits. Top tip: don’t stuff your listing with too many keywords, Amazon doesn’t like it!

Amazon recognizes well-optimized products by awarding the Amazon Choice badge. Amazon has selected the product to be automatically recommended to browsers. For example, if ordering via Amazon Echo, the smart device pushes Amazon choice listings to the top. With an estimated 33.2 million consumers using smart speakers to search for products, this is non-negotiable for online sellers.

When shoppers see the Amazon Choice badge, they’re confident the product is worth their money. This will inevitably increase your sales. It’s an accolade you need to target to be successful on Amazon.

Once you have the fundamentals of Amazon selling under your belt, scale up your Amazon efforts by including Helium 10 or AMZ Scout in your tech stack. Both bring toolkits unique to Amazon – such as listing optimization, sales analytics, and Amazon fee calculators.

These best-of-breed solutions will do the bulk of the legwork to enable the discoverability of your products. So, you’ll be able to concentrate on other parts of your business. This separates good brands from great brands.

How to Create Amazing Product Detail Pages on Amazon

Digital assets are powerful.

Amazon allows the display of seven to nine product photos. Make sure to provide photos from multiple angles to highlight key features and give customers more context. Doing so will make your product pages will shine.

Top tip: The less whitespace you have around your product, the bigger your product will look in Amazon’s search results!

Amazon’s A+ content (formerly Enhanced Brand Content) allows you to add additional product descriptions, images, and other information to your product pages. However, make sure to use high-quality product images and digital assets. Customers will like this, and Amazon will, too!

A+ also provides pre-built templates with additional features for product descriptions. A beauty retailer could use Amazon A+ to feature banners, tables, and interactive imagery. This will instantly grab your customer’s attention as they land on your product page.

Using bullet points on product detail pages is an excellent way of addressing customer questions. This emphasizes critical points in a scannable format, which is decisive when customers are casually browsing.

How to Drive Sales on Amazon

Your products and services are flying off your e-shelves. But, how do you take your Amazon strategy to the next level? Easy! Let’s take a look.

Cross-sell

Amazon helps to cross-sell with its native bundling features such as ‘Customers who bought this also bought’ and ‘frequently bought together’. Amazon’s sophisticated recommendation is just another benefit of trading on the marketplace giant!

Amazon retailers are able to set up their own product links, too. Bundle relevant accessories, such as computer mouse and mouse pad, and offer discounts for purchasing the bundle instead of individual products. When you successfully cross-sell products, you bag a higher sale from your customer. This means more revenue for your business.

Tailored shopping experiences mean customers are likely to discover more of your products!

Subscription models

Amazon’s Subscribe & Save service will increase sales by incentivizing customers to shop more frequently and in larger amounts.

Apply discounts for customers who are subscribers, such as ‘subscribe and save 10% on your delivery’. This also encourages customer loyalty and repeat purchases.

This method is popular with health and beauty products, coffee, toiletries, and pet supplies.

Offer free or low-cost shipping for large orders

If a customer needs to purchase $20 of items to receive free shipping, they’ll be more likely to add additional items. It’s the oldest Amazon sales strategy trick but will drive your AOV sky-high.

Buy now, pay later

Giving customers the option to pay on finance will make it easier for customers to make larger purchases. This also builds customer loyalty, as they’ll be more likely to make further purchases from your store. In addition, Amazon offers payment via Prime Store card, making the process even smoother as you don’t have to involve third-party payment systems.

Provide excellent customer service

Amazon makes it easy to talk to your customers via live chat messaging. Also, Amazon’s Customer & Answers functionality is great to feature on your product pages. Here’s an example from Amazon’s Echo smart speaker.

To uphold your brand reputation, vendors on Amazon should provide the level of customer service you would through your brick-and-mortar store.

Key Takeaways

• To list a product on Amazon, there are requirements you need to adhere to. So, only use official product information for key product attributes – such as the manufacturer or brand name – to list items.
• There is still scope for creativity on your product listings. For example, product listings must contain engaging, high-resolution images and scannable, SEO-friendly product descriptions. Amazon is a hyper-competitive online marketplace, so you’ll be giving yourself the best chance with keyword-enriched product descriptions.
• As an Amazon online business, you’re provided with tools to drive sales. From developing a cross-selling strategy to customer finance options. Online selling has never been simpler!